


Splendor

by huxduxtuxlux



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Family Issues, Gen, Hux Family, Hux's family, Internalized Homophobia, Jealousy, Letters, Recreational Drug Use, Twins, hux twins, stoner mechanic hux, the opposite of an evil twin?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6880303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huxduxtuxlux/pseuds/huxduxtuxlux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn is surprised to find that Poe's best friend looks very familiar.</p><p>Hux laments a severed connection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Splendor

Poe pulled Finn to the back of the hut, eagerly.  “You’re gonna love Splenny, I promise you!”  Just having been released from med rest, Finn was still a bit clumsy on his feet, but he went as fast as he could, knowing Poe was excited to introduce him to his best friend and neighbor, a man they called Splenny.  Finn wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t this.

“You...you’re…”

Finn stuttered as he stared into the face of the man who led the killing machine he fled.  The same green-blue eyes, same large nose, same rounded chin and full lipped pout, sharp cheekbones, fire red brows.  Only, these brows weren’t knit in anger and fierceness.  They were relaxed, and these green-blue eyes shone warm like a summer sea, not cold and icy as expected.  Nostrils weren’t flared in disdain and the plush pink lips weren’t scowling, but smiling.  A gentle hand reached out to touch Finn’s shoulder, while another tucked a lock of shaggy red hair behind a large ear.  Finn was mesmerized by the deep dimples in the fair face, the scruffy beginnings of a beard, the light dusting of freckles over the nose.  An identical face to the one he feared, yet so warm, so kind…

“Splendor, but everyone calls me Splenny.”  The man pulled Finn into a tight hug, and Finn noticed that while Splenny may be the same height as the General, his shoulders seemed slimmer, less powerful, and he had a slight soft belly under his blue shirt.  “It’s so great to meet you, man, Poe here won’t stop talkin’ about ya!”  He gave Poe a fond punch in the shoulder, laughing.  It was a loud laugh, amplified by the wide open mouth, Splenny’s head thrown back as if sending the laugh out to another planet.  Finn couldn’t picture the General laughing at all, and he certainly couldn’t imagine him speaking in Splenny’s calm, sing-songy brogue, drawing out ‘r’ sounds and dropping consonants.  Maybe, Finn thought, my head injury was worse than I thought.

“You look…”  Finn didn’t know how to articulate his confusion.  He must’ve been crazy, right?

Poe turned to Splenny.  “Finn is a former Stormtrooper for the First Order.”  He said matter of factly, careful not to imply guilt, shame, or wrongdoing.

“Ahh, so that’s why you’re lookin’ at me like I’ve got five heads!”  Splenny laughed again and motioned for Finn to sit.  Poe sat down beside Finn, biting back a smile, slightly amused at Finn’s reaction.  He could’ve told Finn ahead of time, but that would’ve taken all the fun out of it.

Splenny sat down on a stump he’d pulled in for extra seating.  He took a small pipe from his pocket and offered it to Finn, who shook his head, afraid.  Splenny smiled and lit the pipe, put it to his lips, and inhaled deeply.  “It’s why they call me Splendor, ya see.”

“Splenny is the Resistance’s best...herbologist.” Poe said with a grin.

Splenny giggled.  Finn liked his giggle—it was so warm. “Herbologist! I suppose I am that, technically.”  He took another hit, golden eyelashes fluttering against his skin with pleasure.  “Well, Finn.  We should address the bantha in the room, I suppose.  My given name is Bertram Hux.  Your General is my brother.”

“ _ Twin _ brother.” Poe added.

Splenny nodded.  “Identical twin brother.”

Finn looked him over.  In a way it made perfect sense.  But in another… “How?!”

“Well, Finn, when a man and a woman—”

Splenny sputtered laughter.  Finn rolled his eyes.  He loved Poe’s sense of humor, but now wasn’t the time.

“You just seem so...soooooo different.  I mean you look alike, but you’re so...I mean, I just met you and I already feel safe with you.  Your brother on the other hand…”

“Is a twat?”  Splenny offered.

“That might be a bit of an understatement.”

“Yeah, well,  ol’ Bren had a rough go of it.  Not to make excuses for what he’s done, it’s abominable, but...it was also inevitable.”

“How?  You’re twins.  Same nature.  You grew up together, right?  Same nurture?  So how you can be so different?”

“We grew up together until we were 12.  Then Mam had had enough of Brendol Sr.’s shit, so she and I left for Yavin 4, where I met this punk.”  He gave the grinning Poe a good-natured hair ruffle.  Finn felt a hot surge of jealousy in his gut.  “She tried to take us both, o’course, but Bren said he wanted to stay with Dad.  He always had something to prove to ‘im.  He thought it was cowardly to leave.”

“Wait, you and the General are twins, but your brother’s named for your dad, not you?  Was he born first?”  Finn asked.

“Nope, I’m seven minutes older.  Mam says that when I came out, Dad glanced at me, counted me toes, and then told her to push out the next one.  ‘He’s the one I’m lookin’ for,’ he said.  He could tell right away I didn’t have what he did.  Ambition.  Ruthlessness.  Bren sure did.  Dad mostly left me alone, let Mam tend to me.  He wasn’t cruel to me or anything, just indifferent.  I thank the stars everyday for that.  If he’d seen potential in me, he’d’ve ground into me like he did to Bren.  Turned him into this...this…”  Splenny seemed to search the smoky air for words, but found none.  He shrugged and held out his pipe to Finn.  “Are you sure you don’t want a bit of this?”

***

***

“I can’t believe how much destruction a single droid has caused.”  General Hux paced around the small room on the ship.  “A BB unit!  A little orange ball belonging to some idiot pilot—what was his name again?”

“Dameron.”  Kylo Ren answered from his seat in the leather chair.  “Poe Dameron.”

“Dameron...hmm...why does that sound so familiar?”  

“Because he’s a well-known Resistance pilot who has been mentioned in several reports—”  

“Hush!  I’m not an idiot.  I know it from further back.  I’ve been trying to remember for close to a year now…” Hux sat down in the chair beside Ren, searching his memory for the name.  He could ask Ren to do it, he supposed, but he’d rather not risk further intrusion.  “He’s not...he’s not from Yavin 4, is he?”

Ren tilted his head curiously.  “He is.”

“Of course.”  Hux smiled to himself, pulling the letter from a file in his mind.  At the academy, one didn’t save things like letters, so Hux got into the habit of memorizing them.  He’d always been good at memorization.

A letter from his brother.  They must’ve been 15 or 16.  Bren had been at the academy for two years and Splendor (their mother christened him young, mesmerized by his perpetual joyfulness, and liking how many letters it shared with ‘Brendol.’  It suited the smiling boy much better than Bertram) was off on Yavin 4 with their mother, learning mechanics and botany.  Splen had written to Bren just before their shared birthday, hoping to time it so it would get to Bren on the day itself.  It hadn’t. But Bren was thrilled to receive it nonetheless.  Different as they may have been, they were still brothers.

 

_ Dear Bren, _

_ I hope this letter finds you well.  Mam misses you very much and sends her love.  If you can, you should write to her.  It would make her real happy.   I’m writing to you because it’s nearly our life day, and because I should write to you more, and most specifically because I’m having an issue that I think you might understand.  Everyone’s always going on about how opposite we are, but I think we’re the same on this.  Yeah, I’m sure we are. _

_ The thing is, I’ve made a friend.  His name is Poe Dameron and he’s very adventurous.  I think you would like his energy, but he would probably irritate you with his recklessness.  But that’s what I like about him.  He’s reckless.  He’s never afraid of anything.  I’ll say, “Poe, I don’t know if that’s a great idea,” and he’ll just laugh and pull on my hand and kiss me.  And when he does that I feel so warm and my stomach flips around and do you ever feel like that?  Have you ever felt like that?  It’s a lovely feeling, Bren.  I want to feel it all the time.  But I don’t think I’m supposed to feel it about him, y’know?  Being a boy and all. _

_ I guess I don’t know if you get bubbly and warm and tingly.  Those don’t seem like sensations you’d be likely to feel.  But I know you’ve wanted boys.  I know.  I can sense it, like the Force, but for twins.  Next time we see each other in person, let’s try to move something with our minds, eh? _

_ Anyway, I wanted to know what you do.  Being at the academy and all, you must have come up with a good way to hide it, or even to make it go away!  Can you help me?  I’m already considered odd here, I don’t need another thing making me different. _

_ Well, I hope to hear from you soon.  I miss you.  Say ‘hi’ to Dad for me. _

_ Love, _

_ Splendor _

 

And Hux had written back something very short, given his limited free time, as well as his reluctance to dwell on sentimental things like love and family. 

 

_ Dear Splendor, _

_ I have hidden it by ignoring all feelings, big and small.  I’ve done this out of necessity.  You should not.  You are on a lovely planet with lovely people, and Poe Dameron sounds lovely.  The feelings you feel sound lovely.  If I were you, if I were there, I would enjoy them.  Don’t make them go away.  You have a freedom I don’t have.  Don’t take it for granted. _

_ All my love, _

_ Bren _

_ P.S. I miss you too. _

 

Hux tried to push the memory away.  It had been 15 years since he last saw his brother in person, and going on 8 years since they last spoke.  Hux’s life  _ was _ the First Order, and his brother had disrespected him by joining the Resistance.  When they were young and apart, it was like the tether between them was stretching stretching stretching, looking as though it would snap, but it didn’t.  When Splendor cried, far away in the galaxy, Hux could feel a tug on his heart and a pit in his stomach.  When Splendor laughed (which was often), Hux could feel a tickle, small, deep in his belly.  When Splendor broke his arm climbing a tree, Hux’s whole forearm was red for days.  When their mother died, Hux knew immediately, feeling the breathlessness, the aching heart, and the gut-wrenching sobs of Splendor, bent over her in the kitchen, checking her pulse frantically, screaming out for anyone anyone anyone....Hux could feel it all.  Until they chose their sides.  Then, they were stretched too far apart.  The tether snapped.

Hux shook away the memories as he leaned his head on Kylo’s shoulder, letting his golden lashes flutter closed.  He needed rest.  He needed a cure for this perpetual exhaustion.  He needed to forget that somewhere else in the galaxy, the person he loved the most was working to destroy him.  

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all know Space Mechanic Stoner was the role Domhnall was born to play. Hux twins for Episode VIII plz
> 
> also, regarding the accent: I figured the way Splendor speaks is close to the Arkanis accent (I've decided Arkanis is Ireland, sue me) and that General Hux adopted a more imperial British accent during his time at the academy in order to be taken seriously. So, General Hux used to speak like Splendor does today.


End file.
